Change is such a small word that can have a big impact on life. It’s constant, it happens all the time, and it affected everyone in 2020. Change can be easy; it can be hard; it can be good; it can be bad. But we can’t control it or stop it.

I have never liked the word “change.” I am a Josiah Venture Kid (JVK) living in Poland, 15 years old, and drawn to structure and routine. I like to plan ahead and predict what will happen. I like constants—when things and people in my life stay the same. I don’t like it when something changes because it catches me off guard; it’s unexpected, and I feel like I wasn’t prepared for how to deal with it. Sometimes I even get so stressed out with the constant changes in technology that I wish we could all just go back to using the simple things like letters and landline phones.

The thing is, change happens constantly. We can’t expect 2021 to take away all of our instability, because stability doesn’t come from the new year. It comes from God.

Now it’s not like I’m not used to change. Being a JVK, I’ve had lots of experience with it throughout my life. For example, being called out of Indiana to start Fusion in Poland with my family seven years ago. That has certainly been one of the biggest changes in my life and I have definitely grown through all of my experiences in Poland. I wouldn’t have many of the relationships that I do now, and I wouldn’t be the same person I am today had we not moved across the world and started a new life here in Europe. And I am so, so thankful we did. Even though this change has been hard, God has been good and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

So as you can see, I am quite familiar with the term “change” and I know what it feels like—but that still doesn’t mean it’s been easy for me. 

Currently, I’m in the middle of a six-month home assignment in America living in our temporary home in Indiana. I am writing this on my new school laptop from my American high school that I have been attending for almost a week now. Drinking fountains in every hallway, carpeted floors, and a school schedule that stays exactly the same every day of the week...crazy right?! I’m adapting yet again, and simultaneously, thinking about another big change that is on the horizon. 

We not only left our home in Katowice, Poland for half a year, but are moving up to a northern part of Poland after we return in June. We will be starting a whole new life, going to a brand new school, finding a new house, and making new friends. There is a whole lot of uncertainty in this transition. Structure and routine ... gone. Planning ahead ... nearly impossible. Stability ... pretty much nonexistent. And you know what? It’s hard—real hard. But it’s okay.

I’ve realized that God doesn’t want us to get comfortable in our lives. He wants to challenge us with new adventures and experiences, giving us new opportunities to flourish in ways we could never even imagine. And though it may seem messy at times with endless instability, I can tell you firsthand that God is using the change to help us grow. I’ve learned that he is using all the change I have faced to bring good out of the mess, out of the uncertainty, and even out of the pain. We can expect constant change, even in 2021, staying anchored in him—who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

I’m realizing now, that after our initial move to Poland, I had made a mental checklist of things I could cross off in my life as being “done.” I thought that surviving our international move would give me clearance to sit back and get comfortable in the new life I had begun. But, that’s not exactly how it works. God is never finished with us, therefore, we can go into this year with confidence in his perfect plan for us. Though my life changes constantly, I have stability in the Father, who never changes.